We have received and would like to share this beautiful story from our member Legacoop Produzione e Servizi. Several Italian coops, scattered along 1200 km of the Italian peninsula are reconverting and reinventing their production in order to cope with the current situation. And the story goes on…
The idea starts from a project launched by the social cooperative Progetto Quid in Verona, which operates in the labour inclusion of people (especially women) with fragility, coming from drug addiction situations, former prisoners, migrants. The cooperative operates in the field of fashion, with its own brand (Progetto Quid). Hence the attempt of partial reconversion for the production of masks. Through a report of Legacoop Veneto, the National Association of Production and Services Cooperatives asked for the collaboration of other companies scattered throughout the peninsula, collecting the membership of cooperatives from Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Calabria and Sicily. All this remotely, given the limitations of movement due to the coronavirus crisis.
Progetto Quid has created a “starter pack” (in Italian) for the production of the first samples and a tutorial for packaging instructions. Production started last week and the production is heading to 1 million pieces.
The characteristics of the mask are:
- It has an antimicrobial and anti-drop treatment (therefore both in “entry”, i.e. inhaling protects, and in “exit”, exhaling avoids the spread of potential virus-carrying droplets);
- It is washable for dozens of times, at 60 degrees it maintains its characteristics and reduces the disposal of a huge amount of special waste (there are already images of used masks floating in rivers and seas). If the national need is 90 million masks/month, the environmental impact will be very high;
- It is available in 2-5 working days;
- It is produced entirely in Italy by a network of our cooperatives;
- It is in the process of obtaining certification as a class 1 medical device by Tecnopolo di Mirandola (MO). It is currently a “hygienic facial mask”.
We believe this is an important project as it applies the sixth International Co-operative Alliance‘s principle and puts cooperatives in a position both to help in these difficult times and to produce and guarantee work continuity to their members.
If you want to buy these masks or know more, please contact Gianluca Verasani from LegaCoop Produzione Servizi at g.verasani@produzione-servizi.coop.